A Death Eater's Child
by Tanith Tumultuous
Summary: When Charlie Smythe gets her letter, she just doesn't believe it. But as her story unfolds, she learns more about her heritage- and more importantly, herself.
1. Chapter 1

My foster parents banged on the door, waking me up. "Come on Charlotte, haven't got all day. Breakfast is over, make some toast if you're hungry. Jackie's showering."

I groaned, unwilling to get up. "It's Charlie." I said. "I'll be down in five"

I was Charlie Smythe. Nobody knew my name, when they found me, so they gave me one of their own. They couldn't find my mother or father, so I've been in care all of my life.

It took me five minutes to even bother getting up. I pulled on a vest top and underwear and put on a black T-shirt with jeans, then I unlocked my closet, and hid the half empty vodka bottle.

I was ten, and already drinking and smoking. I told myself it was because I'd had a hard life, but really I knew it was because it made me seem tough. The harder you look, the easier your life is. Anyway, they were all a little scared of me. I'd been at the park when Gina called me an "Ugly Dyke". I didn't know what it meant, but it made me angry. Suddenly, the chains of the swing she was on snapped. She blames me, but I swear I did nothing. Just a freak accident, a coincidence.

Ii went downstairs, still rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I could hear people rushing around in the kitchen, and hushing each other.

"Happy Birthday To You" They sang in unison. I'd forgotten.

"Oi Charles, this came for you." That was my best friend in this dump, and she tossed a letter down on my lap. It looked pretty wierd to be honest, it was yellowed and sealed with wax. "An OWL dropped it off. A fucking owl, Charles. It was the weirdest thing."

"Shut up, Sierra." I said. "And mind your language" Marie added. She was our foster mother.

I frowned. "But my name's not Lestrange. It's Smythe. This isn't mine."

Marie smiled sadly "We don't KNOW your parents surname."

I opened it. It was the weirdest letter I'd ever received.

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL  
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_

Headmistress: _Minerva McGonagall___

Dear Miss Lestrange,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry__. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.  
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31._

Yours sincerely, 

_Severus Snape  
Deputy Headteacher_

I scanned the "Necessary books and equipment" list.

For a second, I almost believed it. Then I laughed. "Oh Sierra, you almost had me there." I said, through my laughter.

But Sierra wasn't laughing. "What? What does it say?"

She was deadly serious, this wasn't her doing. But... but who?

At that moment, I heard the front door open, despite it being locked at all times. A man walked in, with greasy shoulder length hair, and paused.

"Charlotte Lestrange?" He said. I stepped forward.

"Sir? Sir, it's Charlie sir. And, if I may, why is everyone calling me Lestrange today?"

He simply looked at me.

"You have read our letter? I am Severus Snape. Are you coming? We have things to buy."

I stared. "But, Sir, I have no money. And anyway, these things don't exist."

He smirked. "Oh how very wrong you are upon both counts, Miss Lestrange."


	2. Chapter 2

Gina was the first one to laugh. "Oh my god" she said, tears streaming down her face, "You're going to a school of freaks and weirdos! Bet your mother was just as... freaky as you." She added this last comment whilst narrowing her eyes.

This angered me a lot. The Severus bloke about to step in, but it was too late. I thought of a word, a word I'd never heard before, and that word was _crucio_.

Under my glare, Gina's eyes opened wide. "Fuck..." She muttered, but my glare didn't stop, and within seconds she was screaming and squirming on the floor, in an agony as obvious as anything. Snape stepped forward and said. "Enough, Lestrange. You can stop now."

He was right, so I did. "I'm sorry" I said to Snape. "That was me, wasn't it? I knew it was me, but I didn't stop. I could have."

He just nodded. It seemed that, as an afterthought, he said "She insulted your mother. You never knew your mother."

He nodded at me, cast _obliviate _at everyone in the room, and left the house. I followed him.

"In 5 minutes, you will meet Professor McGonagall in the abandoned house two blocks down. You should set off now." He said, his voice monotonous and emotionless. "I would imagine you'd be in Gryffindor, however from your blatant love of torture, you might follow your mother to her house. Enjoy your holidays." He said, but before I could respond, he was gone.

I set off at a run, stopping for a split second to look at the pet snake I'd been saving up to buy. "_Soon, you will be mine, Sisika Sirena"_

"_Good"_

And then I ran again, to meet McGonagall in this house.

"You're late. No matter, the portkey hasn't left. Put your hand on here." She held out a can that might have held soup. I looked at her like she was insane, but did as she said. I felt a horrible ugly constriction, like I was being twisted up inside, and then the floor hit me in the face.

"Where are we?" I asked. I wasn't used to this hustle and bustle, I'd spent my whole life in Cumbria. I stared at the people dressed in funny clothes. I felt out of place.

"London. More specifically, Diagon Alley. There was a wizarding town close to where you were, but it doesn't have half the things you'll need."

I stared at her for a second, then it occurred to me that _I still had no money._ I said this to her, and she merely laughed.

"The last Lestrange? Course you have money. You have the Blacks fortune too. More money than if you were to buy everything you wanted and more. Ever. You have 3 Manors, and one split between you and Mr. Malfoy. Come on, you'll see. No money indeed."

I didn't understand much of what she just said, but she dragged me into a stone building. It was huge. There were ugly men everywhere. I asked who they were.

"Goblins." She answered simply.

"Miss Lestrange would like to access her vault, sir." She said this to a goblin, who simply held out his hand for something.

"I have her key here." She handed the goblin a golden key.

We got onto a carriage, which went pretty fast, much to my dismay, but it did get us to my vault.

The goblin grinned at me. It was possibly the most terrifying grin I'd ever seen. He opened the door, and scraped his fingernails down it. It opened to reveal the largest collection of gold, silver and bronze I'd ever seen, plus some old looking treasures.

I couldn't speak. McGonagall spoke first.

"You'll want to get your familiar first."

"My what?" I asked.

"Animal." She shrugged.

"Actually," I said "I'd rather not. I have an idea of the perfect animal, but you can only buy her in the- the non wizard shop."

"Muggle" She corrected. I Stared at her. "Non wizard people, it's a muggle"

"Oh. Erm, Goblin? Could I convert some of this into-er-muggle 15 pounds?"

He nodded and counted some of my money out, clicked his fingers and handed it to me.

"Thanks. Right, so, how much do I need?"

In the end, I'd taken out far more than was necessary. I had 100 Galleons, 50 Sickles and 25 Knuts.

In Flourish and Blotts, McGonagall wandered off somewhere. Whilst she was gone, I grabbed the books on the list- (_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)by Miranda Goshawk_; _A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot; Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling; A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch; One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore; Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger; Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander; The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble)- _But I also grabbed all of the Potion ones I could see, and a book called _**BECOME AN ANIMAGUS. **_It just looked so... good.


	3. Chapter 3

After I paid I went and stood outside, staring at the paper bag. By all rights it should not have been able to hold the weight of all those books, but somehow it did.

This was all far too weird. I sighed and sat on the steps, fishing in my pocket for my cigarettes and lighter. I lit up, thought for a moment and then reached into my other pocket, retrieved the hip flask and drank half of its contents. I shook my head at the all too familiar dull burn. Not bothering to screw the lid back on, I placed it next to me.

I took a couple of drags of the cigarette, and tried to focus on something. There seemed to be something nagging me, at the back of my mind, but I couldn't quite figure what. I stubbed out the rest of my cigarette, and concentrated.

_Look again, Charlotte._

That surprised me. Although the hospital had given me a surname, my mother had left a note. Scrawled in pencil, in a pretty but insane script, there was one word in big letters. A name. _Charlotte._

I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be looking at, to be perfectly honest. I seemed to forget everything for a second and all I could think about was the flask right next to me. I studied it for a second, staring through the top at the amber liquid that sat inside. My eyes unfocused, then refocused on the letters carved at the bottom written in the same erratic handwriting as my note.

_B.L._

Intitials. I briefly wondered why I hadn't noticed them before, but remembered that I had when I first found the flask, waiting on my dresser for me when I woke. I remembered how I'd felt, not afraid that someone had gotten into my room, but strangely relieved. I'd felt like somehow everything was okay now. The letters had been there then, but not once I came back to it late that day.

McGonagall appeared next to me. I screwed the cap on and quickly shoved the flask back in my pocket. She feigned ignorance but I knew she'd seen the flask.

"Ready to go? You'll need to be fitted for robes." She asked, rhetorically I assumed because she was already striding down the stone steps. I followed slowly, lazily. I could feel my heart beat faster and my mind working overtime. She nodded at a huge bearded fellow passing us, and pointed to a shop called "Madame Malkins"

"Go in there. She'll fit you. Have fun. I'll meet you back here in-" She looked ahead, as if figuring something out. "15 minutes. I have some business."

I nodded, no response was necessary.

Entering the building I saw a girl on a podium, who smiled nervously.

"Emily." She said, quietly. As if that answered everything.

"Charlotte. Call me Charlie. Are you a witch too?"

She nodded. "I guess so. Not that I knew."

I sighed overdramatically. "Weird, isn't it."

She nodded almost as melodramatically.

"What kind of animal do you think you'll get?" I asked.

As if by answer, a snake slithered out of her pocket. She smiled.

"This is Saska." Then, "Don't bother the girl, I'm sure she'll love you."

I grinned and she looked at me questioningly.

"Don't _bother_ the girl?_"_ I repeated. "Why shouldn't she?"

She gasped and went white. I stepped back, surprised at her shock. "Are you okay?"

She pointed at me, and yelped "You can _understand_ me!"

A/N Emily belongs to somebody else. I just borrowed her and changed a couple of things. "Who?!" I hear ya screaming. I'll tell ya who. Heir-of-slytherin96. Go on and read her stories. I dares ya.


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